


Hi, Hello

by RebeccaDarking



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkwardness, M/M, suga knows all, theyre both so lost bless them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:54:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebeccaDarking/pseuds/RebeccaDarking
Summary: "I’m really passionate about this cause and I will give you this flier if I have to shove it down your throat”Or Yamaguchi is excited, Tsukishima is tired, and he keeps hallucinating Akiteru's voice.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 13
Kudos: 130
Collections: Haikyuu Secret Santa 2019





	Hi, Hello

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Itsmyfridge](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsmyfridge/gifts).



> hey! this is my secret santa gift for jed, or itsmyfridge on tumblr! i hope you enjoy :)  
> (yes, i did base the title off of a day6 song)

Tsukishima was tired.

He was tired of listening to Hinata and Kageyama being loud as hell during their practices. He was tired of typing up eighteen essays, all due three weeks before break. He was tired of his brother nagging him that he should, ‘spend more time outside’ or ‘socialize with other people, otherwise you’re going to become a lonely college kid with no friends and no one wants that, right, Tsukki?’.

And he did not have the energy to deal with this right now.

“Will you let me  _ pass _ .”

The kid, who was currently holding a flyer in Tsukishima’s face, waved it some more.

“Please! It only takes a minute to sign, and it could help better Karasuno College college for life! The more signatures we get, the more funds for the campus garden we get, and the more - “

Tsukishima was about to hit somebody.

“Listen. I am this close to passing out because of caffeine overdose, and I have about eighteen essays due, so if you  _ do not _ let me go right now, I might be forced to do something that none of us want to happen.”

“Yes, but consider.”

Tsukishima stared.

“It only takes a minute to sign.”

Eighteen different thoughts went through Tsuki’s head that would by certain have him arrested if a mind-reader was around him. “If I sign your stupid petition, will you let me walk back to my dorm in fucking peace?”

“Yep!” The guy beamed.

Tsukishima pulled out a pen, hurriedly wrote his signature on there, and then started walking back to his dorm, ignoring the “thank you!” the other kid yelled.

God, he was so fucking tired.

\----

“Team! We did great. Even though we may not have gotten the results we wanted, we still got to try some new moves on the court, and -”

Tsukishima toned out Daichi’s voice. He was slowly doing worse and worse every game, even though Daichi and Sugawara kept on insisting otherwise. He mentally went over at least three different spikes that he could have blocked if he’d just tried harder, and he could have blocked the pass that the other team scored their winning point with if he’d not been keeping his eye on the wrong person, and -

“- anyway, practice will be at a normal time tomorrow. Don’t be late, and good job everyone!”

There was a chorus of ‘thanks, Daichi’ while they all head out. Tsukishima absentmindedly started walking, head still thinking about all the things he could have done differently.

“Hey! I remember you!”

Tsukishima snapped back to reality, and looked around. He saw a brown-haired boy jogging over to him, smiling brightly. He looked strangely familiar.

“Oh. Petition guy.” 

The guy beamed. “That’s me! I was watching your game, and you were really cool with one of your blocks! The ball hit you and you were like WHAM and then it just dropped and the other team’s faces were so funny!”

“Uh - “

“How long have you been on the volleyball team?”

Tsukishima did not want to make conversation with an overly friendly stranger, but he was blocking his only means of exit, so he had no choice. “A couple years. Now, I have to - ”

“A couple years? Wow, me too! I don’t think I’m really good enough to be on the team, but I really like playing volleyball, it’s really fun!”

Tsukishima was debating walking around in a circle in the empty school until the stranger stopped following him. “Good for you. Now, I have to leave, so if you could. Stop blocking the exit.”

“Oh yeah, sorry!” He moved to the side, and Tsukishima started speed walking. 

“Well, I’ll see you around!” He waved. Tsukishima resisted the temptation to say, ‘I really hope not,’ and left the building.

~~~

“You know, Tsukki, I really think you should go out more. Make some friends. Talk to more people. Do normal college-y things that don’t involve you staying holed up in your room doing essays, or playing volleyball until you nearly break your hand.”

Tsukishima had heard this lecture before, and was probably going to hear it again. “Mm-hmm.”

“I have to go now, so have fun! Enjoy your remaining weeks and have fun, you can stay holed up again after break!” Tsukishima heard a distinct click as Akiteru hung up, and he plopped down on his bed.

What had he done that year? They had won three games and lost two, so far. He had gotten A’s on most of his assignments. He’d…

He couldn’t really think of anything else. 

It was fine, though. Tsukishima didn’t like socializing, or holding long conversations with people. He knew that the inevitable would say something that would hurt their feelings, and then there would be a big fuss with him still not knowing what he did, and then the cycle would continue. He was perfectly fine being alone.

That’s what he kept on telling himself, anyway.

~~~

Tsukishima hated life.

He especially hated the fact that the one coffee shop he went to, when he wanted peace and quiet, was now ruined. He would have to look for a new one, and it wasn't easy finding coffee good enough to top this one. He would have to transfer to a new college, just to get some good fucking coffee. Fuck this.

“I didn’t know you also went here!” The brown-haired boy, who he  _ kept on meeting, _ said, with a cheerful smile on his face. “We’ve met so many times, and I still don’t know your name. I’m Yamaguchi! Yamaguchi Tadashi.” He stuck out his hand.

“You know.” Tsukishima said, with gritted teeth. “When most people occupy the corner seat in a cafe, and have their headphones in, it’s usually to be assumed that they don’t want to be interrupted.”

“See, that’s not a name.”

Tsukishima was going to lose it. “Tsukishima Kei. Now, will you let me enjoy this coffee? Alone?”

The boy - Yamaguchi - didn’t move. “Listen, I’ll leave, but I have a small favor to ask.”

“No.” A favor? 

“Could you help me get on the volleyball team?”

Tsukishima stared at him. “The season’s three weeks in.”

“I know! But I was busy on the day of tryouts and then I couldn’t bring myself to contact the captain because I didn’t want to be inconvenient and then when I went to your game, it looked like there were fewer people than last year but I didn’t want to interrupt the captain or anybody from the team because I didn’t know them butI knew you so -”

“You met me once.”

“More than once, actually. You were in my physics course before I transferred out.”

Tsukishima blinked. “So you want ME to talk to Daichi to see if he can try you out for the team  _ three weeks  _ into a new season.”

“...yes?”

“No.”

Yamaguchi made his eyes go all droopy. “Why not?”

“Because you’re social enough to go talk to him yourself. Now -”

“But I get nervous talking to people!”

“You loudly yell at random stranger to sign a petition.”

“That’s because they’re strangers that I will meet for a grand total of maybe six seconds, and my only job is to get them to sign a piece of paper. Having a conversation, especially with someone older and wiser - “ Was he implying Tsukishima wasn’t wise? “ - is much more daunting.”

Hmm. Tsukishima supposed he related. 

_ Be more social,  _ a voice whispered in his ear. It sounded annoyingly like Akiteru. He really should go and have that checked out.

“... okay.”

“Ple - oh my god thank you you’re a lifesaver!”

“Now will you leave me alone?”

Yamaguchi beamed, and nodded furiously. “Thanks, Tsukki!” 

“Who told you you can call me -”

Before he could finish, Yamaguchi had left the shop.

Tsukishima sighed and slowly sipped his coffee. Why had he agreed? It’s not like Yamaguchi was important to him in any way. He had only met him once before, despite what Yamaguchi claimed. Maybe it was just boredom?

_ Or maybe you want to stop being so lonely all the time,  _ a voice whispered in his ear.

“Shut up, Akiteru.” He said out loud.

~~~

“Why didn’t he come talk to me personally?”

“Something about him being nervous.”

Daichi smiled. “Well, of course he can try out! Tell him to meet up with me so we can arrange a time and place.”

“Okay.” Tsukishima turned around to leave, but Daichi started speaking again.

“You know, it’s rare that you do something nice for somebody.”

“Thanks.” Tsukishima said dryly.

“Oh, you know what I mean! I’m glad to see you meeting new people other than the ones on this team.”

“What are you, my dad? I’m leaving.” 

He had already walked a bit before he realized a sudden issue.

He did not have any way to contact Yamaguchi. He didn’t ask for his phone number (Why would he? He’s practically a stranger.) He didn’t know where any of his classes were, nor where his dorm was. That left only one option - go back to the area near the biology lab, where Yamaguchi was passing out flyers before. That meant more human interaction, and Tsukishima wasn’t sure he was down with that, but he supposed he had no choice.

He reached the street in front of the building and sure enough, Yamaguchi was there.

“Hey! Will you please sign a petition involving - “

“Shut the fuck up.” A tall, buff guy muttered. Yamaguchi’s smile faltered, but it quickly reappeared as he moved onto the next person.

Tsukishima felt kind of pissed. Damn, people were rude. He knew he was a dick, but not that much of a dick. 

“Hey! Will you - oh, hi, Tsukki!”

“Again, who told you you could call me - never mind. Daichi says to meet up with him after one of our practices about a time and place to try out.”

“ _ Thank you!”  _ Yamaguchi half-yelled. “I guess I’ll follow you to your next practice, then! It’s okay if I watch, right?”

Tsukishima was too tired to object anymore. “Whatever.”

“ _ Yes!  _ Oh, are you doing anything for the next hour?”

“Uh. No?”

Yamaguchi shoved some papers into his hand. “Then you can help me get more people to sign this! And make sure to pass out these flyers as well. You’re the best, Tsukki!” Saying this, he turned around and started talking to the next person walking by.

What the fuck. He did not sign up for this. What would he theoretically lose if he just dropped these and walked away? Nothing. He didn’t even know him that well. He didn’t have to do anything for him.

_ That’s what you keep telling yourself, and yet you keep helping him. _

“Shut up, Akiteru.”

A passing stranger looked at him strangely. 

Tsukishima glared at them. “Sign this fucking petition.”

They nodded fearfully.

~~~

**012-312-5636: hey Tsukki! This is yamaguchi :)**

Yamaguchi asked for his number to help him find out details about practice tomorrow. Tsukishima, tired of forcing strangers to sign a fucking piece of paper, had given him his phone wearily without objections.

_ Practice is at 5 - 7 tomorrow in the Sports Building.  _

**012-312-5636: “hi, yamaguchi. it’s nice talking to you, yamaguchi.” oh why thank you tsukki, it’s nice talking to you as well! thank you for generously telling me the practice time :)**

Tsukishima wasn’t an expert at reading humans, but he was pretty sure that this was an example of a passive-aggressive tone. Whatever. He told him the practice details, and now he could promptly never talk to him again.

_ ‘Unless he makes the team,’  _ the same voice whispered. Tsukki began to wonder if hearing voices in your head that sound like your brother was a normal occurrence. Besides, he wasn’t necessarily going to make the team. Didn’t he himself say that his playing wasn’t that good?

_ ‘You know, for someone you don’t care about, you sure do remember a lot about him.’ _

“You know, I have no idea what you’re insinuating but I don’t like that tone of voice.” 

_ ‘You sound like your fucking mom. Anyway, didn’t Daichi say that skill mattered less than passion? Yamaguchi is very passionate -’ _

“I cannot believe I am having a full-on conversation with you.” He said, and then went to sleep.

If his dreams featured a cameo by a certain brown-haired annoying ass boy, he ignored them.

~~~

Tsukishima didn’t know why he was waiting, really. He could be home by now. He could be asleep. He could be enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee. But instead, he was waiting for fucking  _ Yamaguchi  _ to finish tryouts. He could leave right now, and Yamaguchi wouldn’t even know he was waiting. 

Sometimes he hated his brain. Now was one of those times.

He saw a familiar face from the corner of his eye. Finally. He could go home and relax.

_ ‘You could have gone home a long time ago, you know, and yet you chose to stay here-’  _

He  _ really  _ hated his brain.

“Thanks for waiting, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi ran up to him, panting. “You know, you’re nicer than everyone think you are.”

“Right.” He turned away. “How were tryouts?”

“I’m on the team!!!” Yamaguchi yelled excitedly, and then lowered his voice. “I mean, I’m on the team! Daichi was very intimidating at first but he turned out to be really nice! You know, he kind of reminds me of a dad..”

Tsukishima snorted. “He reminds everyone of a dad.”

Yamaguchi smiled wider, which Tsukishima didn’t know could be possible. “Hey! I actually got you to laugh! That’s the first time I’ve seen you express an emotion that wasn’t negative towards me!”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “Wonderful.” He turned around and started heading in the direction towards his dorm, and Yamaguchi followed.

“You know, the phrase ‘hey i got you to laugh’ isn’t code for ‘yes let’s immediately stop smiling and act like I insulted you’.” Yamaguchi said, grinning.

“Then what is it code for?”

“That you should smile more often! It makes you look cute!”

Tsukishima stopped and stared at him.

Yamaguchi stared back, and then promptly turned bright red.

“Hey I just realized that I was heading this way when my dorms were the other way can you believe it? I’m just gonna go there now bye Tsukki uh forget everything I said and. Uh. Bye!” He turned around and practically sprinted the other direction.

Tsukishima kept on walking.

When he reached home, looked in the mirror, and saw that his face was bright red, he made a conscious effort to ignore it.

~~~

When it came time for practice tomorrow, both him and Yamaguchi seemed to have made a mental pact to forget everything that happened. 

Yamaguchi got along well with everyone on the team, especially Hinata. Initially, he was hiding in the corners, but Hinata had approached him, said something that Tsukishima couldn’t quite make out, and soon enough, they were both talking about school and volleyball.

“You know, your eyes have been focused entirely on him today.” A voice from behind said. He turned around, and saw Suga smiling at him.

Tsukishima didn’t know why he felt so defensive. “He’s new to the team.”

“He is.” Suga said, and then looked at him expectantly.

Tsukishima hated it when he did that. Whenever he did that, he always knew more than he was letting on. “What?”

“How did you two meet?”

“He shoved a flyer in my face and said something about trees. I don’t even like nature.”

“Oh, the garden petition that’s been going around!”

“And he kept on following me.”

“Did he?”

“No, but it seemed like it.”

Suga’s eyes looked like they were staring into his soul. He looked over, and saw that Daichi was listening in on the conversation as well. Both of them shared a knowing look.

God, Tsukishima  _ hated  _ when they did that.

“I see! Well, have fun, Tsukishima!”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Suga said nothing and jogged back over to Daichi.

Tsukishima had no idea what that was about, but didn’t like it anyway. 

After practice, Yamaguchi jogged over. “That was really fun! Hinata was nice, and he showed me a couple of cool moves!”

Hinata would have jumped at the opportunity to teach anyone anything. Maybe that’s why he got along so well with Yamaguchi.

“He can jump really high!”

“That’s usually the reaction most people have when seeing him play.”

Silence followed. Yamaguchi opened his mouth, and then closed it again.

“Do you have something to say, or - ‘

“Uh, there’s this biology exhibit soon.” Yamaguchi started, speaking really quickly. “Saturday. Like, two days from now. That’s when Saturday is. Anyway, there's this thing that I really want to see there and it’s full of cool, like, animals and stuff I don’t know how to explain it to you but uh. Um. It’s -”

“First of all, slow the fuck down. Secondly, what’s your point?”

“Would you want to, um, go see it? With me?”

“I don’t really like nature.”

Yamaguchi turned bright red. “Oh yeah of course you don’t have to! I was just. Wondering. That’s all. It’s completely fine actually you know what? I suddenly have something extremely urgent to do at home that requires me to leave like right n -”

Tsukishima didn’t know what the feeling that just arose in his chest was. Guilt, probably. Besides, he had nothing to do on Saturday, either. He had finished most of his essays and the one that was left could be finished on Sunday, so he supposed he could just go. 

“Sure.”

Yamaguchi stopped talking. “What?”

“Sure, I’ll go. Why not? You can bore me with animal facts, I have nothing else to do.”

“ _ Great!  _ I mean, that’s uh, great cool I’ll see you there bye Tsukki!”

Yamaguchi grabbed his bag and practically sprinted out. This was the second time.

“I thought you didn’t like nature.” Suga said from behind him.

“Shut up.”

~~~

His dreams were starting to have more and more cameos of Yamaguchi. He tried to ignore them.

~~~

Yamaguchi was wearing an oversized brown jacket. He looked like the poster child of a biology student. Tsukishima was wearing his everyday clothes, but with a little nicer jacket than usual. He didn’t know why he had made the decision to wear a nicer jacket. After all, this was just him hanging out with Yamaguchi. It’s not like it was a date, or anything -

He pictured Suga’s knowing smile in his head. 

Oh, shit. Was it a date?

Tsukishima added this thought to the growing list of things he would ignore until later. The list seemed to have increased exponentially since Yamaguchi appeared.

“Hey!” Yamaguchi waved him over. “I like your jacket.”

“Thanks.” 

A brief silence ensued. Oh god.

“Well, wanna head in?”

“Sure.”

~~~

“ - And see, the reason why sharks are so preyed upon by humans is because of the negative attention they get in popular media! Even cows kill more people than sharks!” Yamaguchi said excitedly, pointing at the shark fossil in front of them.

“That’s cool.”

“Right? And - “

The conversation had been flowing much more smoothly ever since they went inside, with Yamaguchi yelling about biology facts that he had learned about passionately and Tsukishima nodding along. It was a lot more interesting than he would have thought it would be, but he didn’t know if that was due to the actual exhibit itself, or just due to the fact that Yamaguchi made it sound interesting.

“And this fossil is one of the thigh bones of a diplodocus, which is really cool as it was one of the oldest creatures that roamed the Earth!”

Tsukishima racked his brain. “Wasn’t that the long one?”

“ _ Yeah!  _ I can’t believe you actually listened to me rambling. Sorry if I’m talking too much, I probably sound like a tour guide.”

He did, but Tsukishima wasn’t going to tell him that. “It’s fine.”

Yamaguchi pointed towards another area. “And that is the rare fossil of the hot dog seller. Wanna go grab one?”

“Yeah.”

Munching on hot dogs, Yamaguchi spoke up.

“You know, this is the most fun I’ve had in ages.”

“Don’t you go see these kinds of things on a monthly basis?”

“Yeah, but this time, you’re here.” He said, cheeks going a bit red. 

Tsukishima didn’t know how to respond to that. He also didn’t know how to ask the question ‘hey are you very friendly or is this a date’ without things tuning really awkward really quickly. This was exactly why he didn’t do social situations.

They finished their hot dogs in silence at about the same time, before Yamaguchi jumped up.

“There’s still one more thing to go see, and it’s my favorite part!” He beamed and pointed towards the butterfly exhibit. 

Tsukishima sank down further in his chair. “Can’t I just sit? I’m tired of walking.” He complained.

Yamaguchi grabbed his hand and pulled. “Nope! Let’s go!”

Tsukishima didn’t let go of his hand.

Neither did Yamaguchi.

~~~

It was time to leave. Despite all the internal crises that he had gone through, Tsukishima thought that this was pretty fun. Of course, he would never admit that out loud, since he would never succumb to a biology major.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow at practice, then!”

“See you.”

He turned around and started walking, but Yamaguchi grabbed onto his hand before he could get much further. 

“Wait.”

“What? I’m not looking at the turtle exhibit again. They’re literally just moving rocks.”

“They’re  _ amazing,  _ and no. See, I’m gonna do something right now, and you’re not going to say a word, and then I’m gonna run away, and we’re gonna pretend that it never happened.”

“What - “

Yamaguchi stood on his tiptoes and kissed him.

It wasn’t anything deep, and lasted for about a second. About seventy different emotions rose inside Tsukishima at once. He was pretty sure his face was bright red, and he hated Yamaguchi for making him feel like a fucking blushing schoolgirl.

“This is the part where you say something, and then I run away.”

Tsukishima paused for a moment. “Um.”

“Thanks for your input! I have, yet again, something extremely urgent that I need to fo right now, so if you would excuse me - ”

“So this  _ was  _ a date, huh.”

Yamaguchi paused. “Well. I mean. If you want it to be. It could be.”

“...Yeah.”

Yamaguchi stared. “I’m sorry?”

“Yeah, I want it to be.” Tsukishima mumbled incredibly softly. He hoped Yamaguchi had heard him, because he wasn;t repeating that shit again.

“Oh. That’s, uh, nice! So.”

“Is this still the part where you run away?”

Yamaguchi laughed, and reached over to grab his hand. He really needed to stop doing that. If Daichi or Suga ever saw this, they would never let him live it down.

“You know, I was lying about my dorms being the other direction.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“Does this mean I get to call you by your first name now?”

“Fuck off.”

“Kei doesn’t really have the same ring to it as Tsukki, though.”

“I’m not going to comment on that.”

Tsukishima entered his dorm room, went to the bathroom, and saw that he was still smiling.

He could ignore that.

~~~

**Save contact as ‘Tadashi’**

**Yes** **No**

**Contact saved.**

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is thehprevolution, if you want more content uwu


End file.
